The Collaborative International Dictionary
Pillow \Pil"low\, n. [OE. pilwe, AS. pyle, fr. L. pilvinus.]
-
Anything used to support the head of a person when reposing; especially, a sack or case filled with feathers, down, hair, or other soft material.
[Resty sloth] finds the down pillow hard.
--Shak. (Mach.) A piece of metal or wood, forming a support to equalize pressure; a brass; a pillow block. [R.]
(Naut.) A block under the inner end of a bowsprit.
-
A kind of plain, coarse fustian.
Lace pillow, a cushion used in making hand-wrought lace.
Pillow bier [OE. pilwebere; cf. LG. b["u]re a pillowcase], a pillowcase; pillow slip. [Obs.]
--Chaucer.Pillow block (Mach.), a block, or standard, for supporting a journal, as of a shaft. It is usually bolted to the frame or foundation of a machine, and is often furnished with journal boxes, and a movable cover, or cap, for tightening the bearings by means of bolts; -- called also pillar block, or plumber block.
Pillow lace, handmade lace wrought with bobbins upon a lace pillow.
Pillow of a plow, a crosspiece of wood which serves to raise or lower the beam.
Pillow sham, an ornamental covering laid over a pillow when not in use.
Pillow slip, a pillowcase.
Wiktionary
n. a metal block for supporting a rotating shaft; a bearing
WordNet
n. a cast-iron or steel block for supporting a journal or bearing
Usage examples of "pillow block".
Its head elevated by the antlers on the metal pillow block, the head turned and the eye white as though it tried to look back at the bright shaft that killed it-the creature, lying on its side in its own reflection in this place of obsessive order, seemed wilder, more alien to man than a deer ever seemed in the woods.
His light moves over the big galvanized work table with its metal pillow block and backsplash and drains, touches the hoist above it.